COLIN HARVEY dedicated his life to the Blues. Now retired, the club rewards his loyal service with a richly deserved testimonial this weekend.

COLIN HARVEY dedicated his life to the Blues. Now retired, the club rewards his loyal service with a richly deserved testimonial this weekend. In the first of a three-part series, Harvey reflects on how he lived the Everton dream.

WHEN his beloved Blues play Bologna on Sunday, it will complete the circle of Colin Harvey's illustrious career.

A lifetime's service spanning more than 40 years began, and will end, against Italian opposition.

Harvey (pictured) performed every major role for the Blues in that time, from boyhood supporter, through to star player and club manager.

He freely admits that he "lived the dream".

Sunday's match will close the book on a remarkable working life which started as an 18-year-old in the daunting San Siro stadium way back in 1963.

Harvey's debut against Inter Milan in the first round second leg of the European Cup - which the Blues lost 1-0 - remains one of the highlights of his Everton 'marriage'.

"I still cherish the memory," said Harvey, who was handed his big break by manager Harry Catterick . "You always remember your first game and to play in the San Siro was unbelievable.

"I wasn't told I was playing until late in the afternoon. I just went out there thinking not a great deal was expected of me and I would just do my best. It was a great team performance and I really enjoyed the occasion. It seems like yesterday.

"Afterwards Harry Catterick said 'well done' and if you got that out of him you had played well. Then for the next game I was back in the reserves.

"That was the way he was. He was an old-school manager who governed the whole club."

Harvey's Goodison love affair began at the tender age of six. Watching from the packed terraces, the exploits of 50s heroes Wally Fielding, Johnny King and Bobby Collins left him spellbound.

"For a while we lived just off Gwladys Street and I used to go into the boys' pen," he recalled. "There used to be 75,000 packed into the ground. The atmosphere was fantastic."

Harvey joined the club straight from school and in the years to come developed into one of the game's finest midfielders.

Together with Howard Kendall and Alan Ball (pictured above), he formed the best midfield trio the club has ever seen and allowed the Blues to sweep all before them in the late 60s.

Dubbed the 'White Pele', Harvey's intelligent passing, tireless running and will to win inspired Everton to a 1966 FA Cup victory and the 1970 championship.

But Harvey is a modest man and deflects all the praise onto Ball, who he rates as Everton's greatest ever player.

"He was unbelievable," he said. "He was a ball of fire. Fantastic. It rubbed off on the rest of us and raised everyone's game. You wanted to be as good as him.

"When Bally arrived I thought we were the best footballing side in the country and played fabulous footbal l . Harry Catterick never really got the credit he deserved.

"I was never a great goalscorer. That was one of the aspects of my game I should have been better at. Joe Royle used to say that I could pass it all over the pitch, but as soon as I reached the box I got a nosebleed. Harry told me to work box-to-box, which I did, and occasionally I got a spectacular goal."

One of the most memorable was his first ever strike for the Blues in September 1964. For a boyhood Evertonian, there can be no more fitting victim than Liverpool.

"We went there as underdogs because we had injuries," Harvey recalled.

"We thought we would get murdered, but won 4-0 and I got the third."

Grabbing the winner in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Burnden Park in 1966, as well a stunning solo effort that clinched the 1969/70 title at Goodison are also magic moments.

After making more than 380 appearances for the Blues - in which he scored 24 goals - Harvey was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday in 1974.

Those two seasons at Hillsborough were the only ones he spent away from his spiritual home, but his Wednesday career was cut short after hip probl e ms be gan to materialise.

When he was offered a coaching role back at Goodison, he did not hesitate in returning to Merseyside.

From there he was appointed Howard Kendall's number two in 1983, coinciding with a massive resurgence in the club's fortunes.

And when Kendall left the managerial hot-seat, Harvey was the man the club turned to.

The final chapter of the Harvey life story will be written on Sunday, when thousands of Evertonians will pay tribute at his testimonial.

Now 58, hip replacement surgery has meant he has had to call time on his coaching duties.

"Sunday will be an emotional time for me, but also a very proud one," he admitted. "It's recognition that everyone thinks you have done a good job.

"Everton has been a major part of my life. I came here as a boy supporting the team and I went on to play, coach and manage at Everton. I lived the dream.

"I used to play in front of 65,000 people. How can you forget things like that? Every time I come to Goodison, it takes your mind back."

The Everton ties are way too strong to sever completely, however.

In his retirement years, Harvey intends to remain a familiar face around Goodison Park.

He vowed: "In a way it is a sad time for me, but I'm not just going to walk away from the place.

"I will be involved in a lot of different ways, maybe doing a bit of scouting. I'll be watching Everton and wanting them to win. Nothing will change."